Growth has been steady since independence. There is an IT industry here that developed Skype, a Baltic fishing fleet, regular passenger ferries to the Scandinavian countries as well as busy cruise ship business in the summer.
It's no wonder that tourism is also a growth industry. With it's colourful buildings of "old town", narrow cobblestoned streets of the castle hill district and it's seaside setting, Tallin seems to have a bright future.
Besides it's charming old town district, Tallin is also blessed with large and plentiful parks. Just 2 kms. east of the city is an area known as Kadriorg which can be roughly translated to mean "Catherine's Valley". In this parkland, Tsar Peter I had a summer residence built for his wife, Catherine, who was born in this area. This palace has been restored to it's early 18th century magnificence and it is still surrounded by it's original unspoiled grounds.
Catherine I was born Marta Skowronska in 1684 in Swedish controlled Livonia to a peasant couple who died of the plague when she was an infant. Never educated, she remained illiterate her entire life but managed to make her way from working as a domestic servant to becoming the Empress of Russia. First, as the wife of Peter I and then by popular succession after his death in 1725. They had 9 children, 2 of which reached adulthood. She began 100 years of continual rule of the Russian Empire by women, first her daughter, Elizabeth then her granddaughter, Catherine the Great.
On the other side of the castle district a couple of kms. away is another of Tallin's parks. This one sits on the Gulf of Finland and the shallow sandy beaches there are accessed by walking and cycling paths. The water here is very clear and clean and surprisingly not very salty at all. If the weather stays sunny we will probably spend the remainder of our time in Tallin relaxing here.
While we were in Tallin we decided to board a ferry to have a look at Helsinki, Finland. Tallin is very well connected to the Scandinavian countries through the many various ferry operators in the Baltic Sea. There are direct ferries to Germany, Denmark and Sweden as well as Finland from Tallin. We took an Estonian-owned ferry operated by Tallink which completed the 80 kms. trip in 2 hours.
We noticed most people boarding with packages, backpacks and bags, some even pulling carts all stuffed with alcohol. A luggage storage room held it all until we arrived in Helsinki. We could only imagine the loads of booze stashed inside the vehicles of those that boarded the ship by car. Apparently alcohol laws in the Scandinavian countries are somewhat restrictive and the government run distribution outlets add a prohibitive tax. The drinking public of Finland is getting around these taxes by coming over to Estonia and loading up on everything they can carry back home. There is no legal limit to what can be transported as both countries are in the EU. Estonia is taking full advantage of this situation by offering 80% discounts on ferry travel from Helsinki to Tallin and return on the same day. There are conveniently placed stores that sell alcohol only a few steps from the dock as well. The Finns, being smart shoppers can recognize a good deal and this situaton has been going strong for 20 years.
As I mentioned Finns are good shoppers. We found downtown Helsinki to be filled with shopping malls and stores that were seperated only by additional shopping malls to the point that we beleive shopping to be the national pastime. The main thoroughfare is probably the priciest of shopping strips in the city. There is no denying it's beauty. A verdant boulevard runs the length of the street and makes for lovely strolling. This leads down to the harbour and the large brick Russian Orthodox Church being watched over by one of the city's many statues.
Helsinki is a cosomopolitan city of over 1 million and with it's easy access to the other cities of the Baltic it has a distinctly international flavour, both modern and edgy. The iconic building of the city is without a doubt the Helsinki Cathedral which was built in 1852 originally as a tribute to Nicholas I, the Tsar of Russia. It is now an Evangelical Lutheran Church.
